The Lady and The Egg
by Princess Shania
Summary: One night Skipper is awoken by one of his team. There's a supposedly pretty lady penguin who has an egg! But what is her past? Is she good or evil? And what of her egg's father? Read on to find out! And feel free to review please! Be warned, it comes pretty close to SkipperXOC.
1. Chapter 1

"Skipper! Skipper! Ski-"

Skipper opened a tired eye. Typical. He'd only just got to sleep and one of the team had an emergency they wanted him to deal with. The penguin who had woken him up had a scar on his face from a mission a very long time ago and his name was Rico.

"Yes, Rico?"

Rico pointed a flipper to the fish bowl entrance/exit and said, "Lady."

"Why don't you show Kowalski?"

Again Rico pointed to the hatch.

"Kowalski's up there with a lady...is it Doris?"

"No. Penguin."

"What?" Now Skipper really was awake.

"Egg."

"Lady in a egg?"

"Lady _has _egg."

"Has she got a mate with her? The egg's father?"

"Umm...no."

"Ah."

"She _ pretty."_

"That's great, but why would I want to know that?"

Rico walked away shaking his head and muttering under his breath. For the life of him, he couldn't work out why Skipper never had or even wanted a girlfriend.


	2. Shelley

Rico was right. The lady was very pretty. She had large, ocean blue eyes with long eyelashes. Kowalski was trying to explain something to her. Clearly he was using his long words again because she looked very confused.

"Can I help you?" Skipper asked her.

"How do I get back?" She had a soft voice with a distinctly British accent.

"Back where?"

"Antarctica. I must get back to my mate."

"Well, you've got a heck of a journey ahead of you. How did you get here?"

"I...I was taken. By the humans."

"You'll have to wait until the chick's hatched. You don't want to risk going out of the zoo with an egg." Kowalski told her. She picked up her egg in her flippers and held it close to her heart.

"Name?" Rico asked her.

"Shelley. What's yours?"

"Ruh..Ri-co. Rico."

She was sweet, Skipper realised after that exchange. Others would probably look at Rico in a very odd way after hearing him speak, but she acted like she didn't even notice.

She was also a good swimmer. All penguins could swim well, but she was really fast. He briefly wondered if she would allow her egg to join the team if it was a boy and inherited her speed. Rico and Kowalski were watching the egg which was in a cardboard box they'd found. It had a blanket in it and Rico kept covering it up only for Kowalski to remove the blanket again and explain why he shouldn't. Rico wasn't paying much attention. He'd just covered the egg for the ninth time, but this time wasn't letting Kowalski remove the blanket.

"Rico," said Kowalski in a rather tired tone. "The egg won't be able to breathe if you do that. You see, eggs have tiny little microscopic holes to let oxygen in without releasing fluid. To putting the blanket over it will suffocate the developing chick."

"In-cub..."

"The incubating parent doesn't cover the entire egg. The egg has a tiny bit uncovered to let oxygen in. They don't need very much though, but still covering it entirely will stop oxygen flow."

"Oh." Rico looked at the egg guiltily. "Sorry."

Kowalski sighed in relief. Satisfied that Rico wouldn't cover the egg again, he went to join Skipper.

"She's pretty isn't she?" Kowalski said to him.

"You and Rico really have a thing for Shelley, don't you?"

"You don't?"

"No. I do not. Even if I did, she has a mate who she loves and whose child is about to...RICO!" For Rico was throwing the egg up and down in the air. At Skipper's bellow he quickly and carefully placed it back in its box.

"I seriously hope," Skipper declared, walking over to him. "That you take parenting classes before your young get hatched. Leave the egg alone. Poor little thing, nearly gets suffocated, you chuck him up and down..."

"He hasn't had much experience with eggs." Kowalski reminded him.

"And we have?"

"We have had more experience than he has."

"I suppose that's true. Rico, eggs are very fragile. Drop him from even a centimetre above the ground and...SPLAT!"

"If you dropped him or her," said Shelley who had finished her swim. "Onto a carpet from a 1 centimetre height, the chick would be fine."

"It's not a risk I'm willing to take. And we're not having carpet. To effectively clean a carpet is a complete and total pain in the..."

"You have an OCD." Shelley told him.

"I do not!" Skipper replied.

"What?" Rico asked.

"An OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He obsessively think it's compulsory for a perfectly clean environment. Which isn't natural, making it a disorder." Shelley explained.

"Oh." Rico said.

"It doesn't just mean you want a clean environment." Kowalski told her. "Some may want a tidy environment,an organised environment, some even... What are you doing?"

Rico was making a nest out of the blanket. "Warm egg." He said.

"Oh, right."

"Thank you." Shelley said. "At least someone cares about the egg." She walked over to the makeshift nest and sat by it and stroked it lovingly with her soft black flippers. And that was when Rico yelped in horror.


	3. Talking

How none of them had noticed it before was a mystery. She had a tattoo on her feathers which was most likely to be made with indelible ink seeing as her earlier swim hadn't unsettled it. It was a tattoo of...

"Dr. Blowhole! Are you an accomplice of his?" Skipper fired at her.

"No! That's why I'm here. I left and I wanted to go somewhere safe and I jumped on a ship the first chance I had. Before I met Sam, I never even _knew_ of Blowhole. Sam didn't even introduce us until after we were married and I didn't know what those two did to other living things until 4 months after I met Blowhole."

"How come it took you so long to leave?"

"Have you ever had to leave a loved one? I adored Sam, leaving him would have killed me. I still love him, but I don't want my chick knowing what a jerk his or her father is."

"Why did you leave? What happened?"

"They tried to infect one with a terrible illness directly in front of me. They'd killed two already, they'd told me, and I'd had enough of it. So I got my egg and left."

She wasn't lying. Skipper knew, but she looked terrified. She was afraid of Blowhole. The way she'd lived had really taken a toll on her.

"I believe you." Skipper told her.

"Do you want me to remove the tattoo?" Kowalski asked her.

"I don't know if you can. I've tried countless times."

"I'm sure I can make something that will remove it."

"Thanks."

Much later on, Skipper was outside, watching the stars. Shelley's question: _Have you ever had to leave a loved one? _kept circling his mind. He had loved Manfredi and Johnson, just like he loved the rest of his team.

"You didn't leave Manfredi and Johnson." Kowalski said quietly. Skipper hadn't noticed him come up.

"I didn't stay with them either."

"That wasn't your fault. We didn't even realise they weren't with us until hours later."

"If I'd only stayed back a minute they'd still be alive."

"I was the one nearest them at the time."

"And I was the one who dragged you out."

"You were keeping to the Code."

"At the cost of two other lives."

"How were you to know where they were? There was smoke everywhere and it was so loud that we were all temporarily deaf for 2 hours after."

"I remember that." Skipper turned to Kowalski. " Oh, I'm being ridiculous. It isn't like I lost all my team. I still have you and Rico. It's just..."

"You miss them. We all do."

"I know you do. Well, we'd better go in before dawn rises."

He pulled Kowalski towards him in a hug. "Thanks, man."

"Just keeping to the Code." Kowalksi answered as he returned the embrace.

_Never Swim Alone_

**OK, one of you said you'd like it to slow a little. Fair enough, I do have a habit of rushing things. OK I, Princess Shania, promise to at least attempt to slow down. The next chapters will be calm and peaceful, like a humoungous lake. There won't be much action, sorry. But there will be in a couple of chapter's time.**

**Peace out to all the other PoM fans who were kind enough to take a couple minutes of their day to read this. Even more peace outness to those who reviewed. I love you all! Good day everyone!**


	4. The Sins Of The One Eyed Dolphin

Shelley was very interested in the humans. The team soon learnt that she had never seen them in real-life before. She wasn't outside much though,preferring to stay with her egg. She didn't want the egg outside in case something or someone stole it. Kowalski hadn't yet managed to remove the tattoo, it remained stuck.

"I'd like to know," Kowalski said on more than one occasion, "how that tattoo stays on."

"Who knows?" Skipper would answer. "That crazy cetacean probaly invented something that would make it stay on."

"Well, in that case," a thoroughly annoyed Kowalski would reply, "I'll invent something that'll _make _it come off!"

And off he would go, mumbling something insulting about one-eyed dolphins under his breath. Shelley found this slightly amusing. What she didn't understand was what Blowhole had done to earn the Penguins' hatred and for a few days she didn't dare ask, considering that she had been close to Blowhole, thanks to her idiot husband. Nine days later, she finally summoned up the courage to ask.  
It was night-time, the men were playing snap. Shelley was watching them. She had never played 'Snap' before, but she was only vaguely interested. She was wondering about why the 3 penguins were enemies with Blowhole. Finally, about 45 minutes later, she asked.

"Guys?"

"Yeah?" Skipper replied.

"Why..why do you all hate Blowhole so much?"

It was just unfortunate that Rico was taking a gulp of coffee at the time. He started coughing and choking and eventually, after coughing up an anchor which he'd swallowed for some reason, he stopped. Kowalski had been thumping Rico on the back to help the choking stop and when it finally ceased, both he and Rico stared at Shelley as if she'd grown an extra head. Skipper didn't look shocked, he looked confused.

"What?" He said after some time. "What kind of dumb question is that?"

"It's not _dumb_." Shelley said, stung. "It's just...did he do something to you?" Her voice trailed off at the end. They all looked amazed at the question, '_which,' _Shelley thought, '_wasn't that hard to answer.'_

"You wanna know what he did to each of us?" Skipper asked her.

"Yes."

"Right." He looked at the other two. "Are you guys OK talking about it?"

"I suppose." Kowalski replied. He looked terrified at the very thought, Shelley noticed.

"Rico?" Skipper asked.

"Alright." He wasn't happy about it either. Shelley felt her heartbeat quicken in fear. '_What had Blowhole _done_?'_

_"_It all happened six years ago..."

**Flashback**

_The intrusion siren signalled loud and clear. The 3 above Skipper's bunk jumped down and looked at their leader who had risen moments before the signal started. There was Kowalski and Rico, who didn't have his scar, and there was Johnson who had brilliant green eyes. His brother Manfredi liked to sleep outside. He was...different,but a good man. It had to be said, he got on better with Rico than his own brother most of the time._

_"Alright. Rico get Manfredi down here, Kowalski, options?"_

_"Element of surprise?"_

_"That'll work."_

_"Skipper! Help!" Rico called._

_"What is it?"_

_"Blow-"_

_Skipper's eyes widened. Why had he sent Rico up alone? He ran to the exit quickly, but he was too late. There had evidently been a fight, there were lines in the snow where a large water mammal had been flung around and considerably broken up ground._

_"Rico?" Kowalski said._

_"Manny?" Johnson said._

_They sounded sad and scared. Skipper turned to them. _

_"Men, don't panic. We'll get them back. We know where Blowhole's lair is. All we got to do is break in, find Manfredi and Rico, kick Blowhole's rubbery butt and get out."_

_They liked that plan. Johnson set about, gathering all the possible weapons he could lay his flippers on and Kowalski consulted the footage they had of Blowhole's secret hideout to see what possible traps they'd have to get through. He finished first. Seemingly, Johnson wanted to really injure Blowhole. However. Skipper didn't see what damage a plastic spoon could do, still he didn't want to bust Johnson's bubble._

_"Skipper," whispered Kowalski. "What if..."_

_"Don't worry, soldier." He patted Kowalski's shoulder. "Johnson can't find the chainsaw. Guess where that's at? No, Blowhole's got the most to worry about."_

_"I'd almost feel sorry for him if he wasn't such an evil, slimy, kidnapping jerk."_

_"I'm ready." Johnson piped up. He was armed with: four considerably sharp knives, six forks, 5 rolls of dynamite, foil, nine bendy rulers (_you know the ones that can be rolled, bent, anything, the ones made of really soft plastic. I think they're impossible to break or something)_ and the forementioned spoons of which there were eight._

_He handed them out and they swallowed them for future use before setting out._

**Holey Moley,what's going to happen now? OK, I know Rico's the main regurgitator/swallower of weapons, but the others can do it too, he just makes the most of it. I read it on the PoM wiki page of him.**

**"Listen closely Peng-you-in"  
****"I'm all earholes, Dolph-uh-in."  
Dr. Blowhole and Kowalski during the very, very first song in 'Return Of The Revenge Of Dr. Blowhole. This is probaly the best short movie ever made. In my own personal opinion. **

******(: Enjoy the happy smiley!**


	5. The Loss of 2 Loved Ones

_They made their way to Blowhole's lair without any trouble. It was going well, too well... They hid in a secluded room and discussed what to do._

_"Kowalski, options?" Skipper asked._

_"We could split up and search for them. However if we come up against Blowhole or his minions, we may not be able to defeat them."_

_"Right. OK, we'll stay together to search for them. I'm not risking losing anybody else." Skipper replied._

_So they set off on a search. But Manny and Rico were making an escape plan of their own. They had been knocked out and had woke up in a cell._

_"What do we do?" Manfredi asked Rico. His large brown eyes were filled with fear. He got frightened the easiest out of the 4 of them and when he did, his eyes lost all white and became big brown circles. No wonder he was called the cutest. Rico put his flipers around him, trying to calm him down._

_"Have you got any dynamite?"_

_Rico stepped back from Manny and regurgitated a stick._

_"Kaboom?"_

_"Oh, yeah."_

_The explosion didn't go to plan. It blew the door away easily, but it set fire to the wall of the corridor. They froze. Then Rico turned to Manfredi._

_"Run."_

_Kowalski, Skipper and Johnson had heard the explosion. They ran towards where they heard it from, Johnson outran them, he was so desperate to find his brother. Skipper and Kowalski eventually wound up at where the hallway that they were in forked into three._

_"Where did he go?" Skipper wondered._

_"What?" Kowalski yelled. There were fire alarms going off and they were deafeningly loud._

_"I was just wondering where Johnson went." Skipper bellowed back. "Stay with me, Kowalski, I can't lose you too. Which way do you think he..."_

_He never got to finish his sentence as a black and white heap of feathers suddenly collided with him in great force, knocking him on his back. It was Manfredi. Looking to his right, he saw that Rico had knocked into Kowalski, although with less force._

_"Sorry, Skipper." Manfredi shouted, helping his leader up. He looked around and started looking worried._

_"Where's Johnny?"_

_"He either went left or right." Kowalski stated at the top of his lungs. Rico and Manfredi had come out of the middle prong._

_"OK. Boys, we'd better split up for this. Manfredi you're with Kowalski, Rico you're with me. Kowalski, Manfredi, go right. Rico, you and I are going left. Let's go."_

_They ran through their individual corridors, screaming Johnson's name. They eventually wound up together again._

_"Sir, have we lost him?"_

_"I don't know. Manfredi, don't give up yet. Kowalski, would it be worth us going through the middle...Manfredi!"_

_For Manfredi had gone back into the right prong. They ran after him and caught up, just in time to see him disappear into a room._

_"Manny!" They heard. _

_"You, alright, Johnson?" Skipper asked. They were just outside of the room. Johnson was gripping his brother tight in a bear hug._

_"Yes, Skipper.__"_

_"Good. Alright, men, let's go back home."_

_Johnson squeezed his brother one more time and then stepped away. His flipper still around Manfredi's shoulders, he started walking towards the door. It happened so fast. One minute he was alive and looked so relieved, so happy.. the next... the ceiling fell on top of them. It was a fiery piece of timber, but it was heavy, it was burning. It disintegrated them in minutes._

_How they got back to HQ was a mystery. They didn't remember doing it or how they got there. But what they couldn't forget was the sudden and cruel death of their comrades. What was even crueller was Blowhole sending them a pot of ashes and a note informing them that it was a trap. They hadn't discovered his lair at all. He'd planned it. Admittedly, the note said he'd planned on all of them being obliterated. But next time he would get them._

_Skipper wasn't having it. A lot of humans came to the Arctic where they lived and he knew that they wanted animals for a place called Central Park Zoo in a place called New York. A zoo would be a good place to keep his boys safe. Besides, the Arctic had too many memories attached of Manfredi and Johnson and it was painful for all of them._

"Is there anything else you wanna know?" Skipper asked Shelley.

"No." She answered quietly. "Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome."

And with that he, and the rest of the men, continued their card game.

**This was a very sad chapter to write. It was pretty difficult to write too, I won't lie, right now I'm feeling depressed. I hope I haven't depressed you readers too much, if I have, then I'm very sorry I did. But let's look on the bright side. I can't think of one. Can you guys think of one? My optimism has left me. Maybe I'll think of a bright side again, but I don't know. Thanks for reading and reveiwing, cyber hugs for all. And thanks to those who are now Following this story, it means a lot and I'm really grateful.**


	6. Sam

Most of the time, the mention of enemy's name was like a call to the nemesis to attack them. That theory had good reason to exist,especially as a puffin turned up nearly a week after Skipper had told all about Manfredi & Johnson.

"Who's this?" Shelley asked, pointing at a photograph of a puffin. It had little holes in it.

"His name is Hans. He's an enemy of mine."

"Why the holes?"

"Darts." Rico said. Shelley looked at Skipper who nodded a confirm-ment.

"How we get aim practise." Kowalski explained.

It was probably, Skipper thought, the one and only time that Shelley had looked worried about where she was. To try and lighten the mood, he asked her about her egg.

"How's the egg?"

"Fine. Thank you."

7 uncomfortable minutes passed and then Shelley said, "Um...I'm going for a swim..."

When she'd climbed up and exited, Skipper said to the rest of the team, "I don't think she liked that. Maybe I should've lied."

"Ah, well. She would've found out anyway." Kowalski said to him.

Kowalski and Skipper went to watch 'Shirtless Ninja Wrestling'. Rico was singing to the egg. It was very peaceful, if a bit painful to the ears due to the shrieks of pain from the T.V. And suddenly there was a cry of 'Back off!' from a voice that could only belong to...

"Shelley!" Rico called.

"Now, sweetheart..." A new voice began.

"Hans!" Skipper growled. He was angry. Furious, in fact. You didn't try to harm his zoo, you didn't try to harm anyone in the zoo, you must never try to harm his team and under no circumstances must you attack somebody that he'd grown fond of. Especially if that someone had a chick on the way.

They had never gone up the rungs so fast in their entire lives. But by, the time they'd got there...

"She's gone." Kowalski groaned.

"We'll find her. Come on.."

"Wait." Rico said.

"What is it?" Skipper asked.

"Egg."

"He's right. We need to find someone or something that can serve warmth to it. Besides, it may hatch while we're gone."

"This is ridiculous." Skipper said. "You think Hans somehow got it?"

"I don't see how he could've..."

"Evening." A newer, pompous voice greeted.

They spun to see the speaker of this voice. It was a penguin. He held the egg in his flippers. He wore a cold smile and his grey eyes were stony and cruel looking. Yet, he was stroking and cuddling the egg.

"Are you Sam?" Kowalski asked him.

"Yes. And you're the ones who looked after my wife when she got lost..."

"She didn't get lost, she was escaping from you. Where is she?" Skipper demanded.

Sam moved the egg slightly away from his chest to reveal the twin of the tattoo that Shelley had.

"Guess." Sam sneered. And with that, he exited the HQ with speed similar to that Shelley displayed when she was swimming.

"Blowhole." Rico snarled.

"We'll find him this time. We'll definitely find him..." Skipper promised.

**They will find him this time, won't they? Or will it be Manfredi and Johnson all over again? Read the next chapter to find out! I'm cruel with cliffhangers, I know and I'm sorry, but let's face it, we love them really. Again, thank you so much for the reviewing and Favouriting and Following, I appreciate it loads, thank you and merci beaucoup and gracias. I love you guys.**


	7. Plans

"Oh, Shelley," Skipper sighed. "Where are you?"

The egg, they knew, would be hatching soon. None of them could bear the idea of it hatching under the eye of that popous jerk, Sam. But, as much as they tried, they simply didn't have a clue where to look for Blowhole.

'_If only you could tell us where you are...'_

He looked at his team. They were displaying signs of fear and fatigue just as he was. Skipper lowered his eyes. He would do anything to find her...anything at all...

"Skipper? Kowalski? Rico? Are you there?"

Three heads whipped round and stared at the giant screen (you know it serves as Skype, in 'Our Man In Grrfursiclestan' It showed Buck Rockgut, I think it was. Good times.)

"Shelley?" Rico whispered.

"Is it really you?" Kowalski asked

"Where are you?" Skipper inquired. He didn't want to waste any time with niceties.

"Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. Please help me, they won't let me see my egg and I don't know what to do." She looked close to tears. They all felt like murdering Sam in the most painful way imaginable.

"We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Thank you." She sniffed, smiled weakly and the screen blanked.

Meanwhile, Sam was slowly and lovingly caressing his egg. He couldn't wait until this one was hatched. This was his first ever chick. He hoped it would be a boy, but if it was a girl, he would love her and adore her anyway. He'd always wanted to have a hatchling, to be his child's very best friend. He stopped smiling at his egg when he remembered his own father's constant criticism and general unkindness. He'd only recently met Blowhole. Blowhole was not in anyway a parental figure, but he was a good friend to Sam. Sam had never dared to have friends because his father was so hard to please. If his father didn't want him to be acquainted with somebody, he never dared argue.

"Oh, my son or daughter," Sam sighed, holding the egg close. "I will always love you and accept you. Always. Daddy loves you, little miracle."

"What _are_ you doing?" Blowhole asked. He looked astounded.

_" _I'm talking to my child."

"It can't hear you, Sam." Blowhole sighed. " But that's beside the point. Shelley has done us a little favour."

Sam grimaced. He was still angry with her for leaving...and hurt too. She knew that his mother had left too. Why had she wanted to hurt him?

"She contacted the peng-you-ins from the New York Zoo..."

"WHAT?" Sam nearly dropped his egg in horror. "How dare she..."

"She did us a favour, Sam. Though she didn't mean to, we must remember to tell them this when we have them dying."

"I'm listening."

"They come here to rescue her and we attack! By 'we' I mean the leopard seals."

Sam's eyes lit up. "That's genius."

"It is, isn't it? Now, I'd better get the troops ready." Just before he vacated the room on his scooter, he casually said to Sam,

"You'd better ask Hans to place Shelley safe somewhere. Can't have her running off again, can we?"

"No," Sam muttered. "No, we cannot."

**Oooh! What's going to happen next? Alright, this is gonna explain why Skipper's 'Public Enemy Number One' in Denmark. I don't know how though? What should Skipper do to become Public Enemy Number One? Ideas? Please? This is pretty short, isn't it? Sorry, I was kinda low on stamina today. Again, thanks for the reviews. I love you guys!**


	8. What happened in Denmark

Copenhagen Zoo was like a prison. It was cold, grey and depressing. Just the sort of place Blowhole would set up lair. It was also empty due to the fact that it had been closed down long ago. They were as quiet as possible, hoping to give the enemy the element of suprise. What they didn't know was that they were being watched...

"Look, baby, we have visitors." Sam said to his egg. He held it up to the light to see his chick. The baby had a beak and two small wings. Perfectly formed. It would be hatching any day now.

"How long do you think it'll take them to find us?" Sam asked Blowhole.

"Oh, not long. Despite their annoyingness, they aren't stupid."

"Well, we'll just have to wait, what 5 or 10 minutes?"

"That's about right."

"This place is creepy." Kowalski whispered to Skipper.

"Don't think about the place. Just think that we'll be out of here in no time."

"Will we?" Kowalski asked him.

"Yes."

"Really?" Rico asked.

"For the love of... Have I ever lied to you two?"

"No." They answered.

"Then trust me."

They still didn't look too sure. Skipper sighed.

"Come on, boys. We've got each other. They've got a penguin who can't fight and a half-blind dolphin. They don't stand a chance."

"Good point."

"Exactly. Come on. We have to find Shelley."

They stuck close together. Neither could shake off the feeling of deja vu of Manfredi and Johnson, but they soldiered on. (Excuse the pun). They suddenly came to a halt (again, please excuse the pun). There was a soft sobbing sound coming from a locked door. Skipper knocked on it and the sobbing suddenly ceased.

"I hate you, Sam! I wish I'd never met you! I..."

"Shelley!"

"Skipper? Is it really you?"

"Yes. We're all here. Hang on."

Rico passed Skipper a skeleton key ( It's a key that can open any door. I figured that they'd probably carry one around for emergency use.)

The moment the door opened, Shelley flew out and nearly tackled them to the ground.

"I thought I was going to die here." She told them.

"Not while we're around." Skipper told her, returning the embrace.

"Get your flippers _off my __wife." _A familiar voice hissed.

"Sam, I want a divorce!" Shelley snapped. "I should never have married you."

"Shell, I never meant to hurt you, I lo-"

"You love _Blowhole_! Why don't you marry _him_?"

"Now you're just being silly."

She wasn't listening. Her eyes were focused on the egg. She took a step forward.

"Give me the egg."

"On one cond-" He never got to finish the sentence as two blurs of black and white shot towards him. Skipper and Shelley tried to stop them, after all, he was holding a fragile egg, but neither minded when they heard Sam's shriek of pain and saw him holding his eyes where he'd just been sucker-punched.

"Here's egg." Rico said to her as Kowalski handed it over to her. She smiled slightly.

"Thank you."

"Sam?" Blowhole called.

"Run!" Skipper told them. They didn't know the building well enough though, and found themselves face to face with...

"Blowhole!"

"It wasn't very pleasant, what you did to Sam. He's hurt."

"Shame." Shelley muttered acidly.

"At least we didn't kill him." Kowalski told him.

"Still hurt over the other peng-you-ins? Come on, it's two less to worry about."

"Maybe we liked worrying about them." Skipper told him

"You shouldn't bond with people, Skipper, you're only setting yourself up for a world of pain. I see you've bonded with Shelley. And vice versa."

"What are you planning?"

"Sam is very good with mechanics. Maybe not genius-level, but...he's created bombs. Not chemical, but they're deadly when they explode. The whole zoo is rigged. You don't know the ways out. I do. Sam does. He's already set them to explode. You all have exactly 90 seconds to live. See you."

He left with astonishing speed on his scooter.

"Should we follow him?" Shelley asked.

"No. He'll kill us all. We'll have to find our own way out. Stick together, men. And Shelley."

"Where's the egg?" Sam asked.

"The...? Oh, shoot. The peng-you-ins still have it."

"I'll catch you up." Sam went back into the building

"You'll die! Don't be crazy." Blowhole called. Sam didn't look back. Blowhole sighed. He decided to wait for Sam until just 12 seconds before the bombs exploded. 80 seconds remained.

"A window!" Rico pointed upwards. The grey clouds of the sky were visible.

"That's our ticket out of here." Skipper acknowledged. "Come on."

They climbed up various boxes and things to reach the sill.

"Rico! Look out!" Kowalski called. It was too late. Sam had found where they were and wrongly believing that Rico had the egg, lunged at him...

He pushed Rico off the box. Rico, not expecting the attack, didn't see a handle of a sweeping brush until...CRACK! He wound up cracking the front of his head aginst it. He was still for a moment and then began to rise.

"Oh, tha' hur'..." He rubbed his head and suddenly realised there was something wrong with his speech. "Wha's happa'd?"

"Come on." Kowalski pulled Rico's flipper. He hoped Rico's speech would be temporary, but somehow he knew that may jot be the case.

"Is he alright?" Skipper called.

"He's just got speech loss. It may just be temporary, though."

"Let's hope so."

He reached down to help Shelley up. She passed him her egg.

"Get him or her to safety. I can get myself out." She watched Skipper and sensed Rico and Kowalski behind her.

"Go, quickly. I'll be fine."

"Shelley..." Kowalski began.

"Go!"

When she saw that they were all out, she began to haul herself out, but stopped at a sudden cry of fury from Sam. He was flying towards her, his features twisted in anger. He pushed her out the window. She didn't know how to land like Skipper or Rico or Kowalski. She hit the ground with a sickening THUMP and lay quite still.

"HA HA HA!" Sam screeched. "Nobody takes ME on and survives!"

He had forgotten the leopard seals. They had been released and were hungry for penguin. They saw Sam, heard Sam and attacked Sam.

They ran over to Shelley. She was dead. Skipper held the egg tightly to his chest.

"What's going on here? Who did this?" Some puffin, not Hans, was looking them up and down.

None of them answered. Too much had happened. And then, as if on cue, Copenhagen exploded. Hans appeared in front of the blaze.

"What did you do to Sam's wife!" He asked. He flew over to where Shelley lay and began to touch her neck. "Her neck is broken! Why did you do this?"

"We did everything we could to help her. And this happened." Kowalski mumbled.

"Come on, boys. They'll lynch us if we stay here much longer."

**Credit to this chapter goes to Appleduck and Kowalski1202. I'd never have come up with an idea if it wasn't for you guys! I am officially in your debt. And I apologise for being gone so long, I was in France for those 2 weeks and I had no internet. I wanna thank you all for your unwavering loyalty to this story. When I've finished this, would any of you like me to go to Google Translate and make it in a different language? It's no hassle.**

**Ah! Another cliffhanger! I'm sorry guys. Um, I've nearly finished. Next chapter is the last, I'm afraid, but I am planning a sequel where Private (who is in the egg) decides to find his parents. What do you think? Or maybe I could do something different. Tell me any ideas you may have.**

**I love you, guys!**


	9. Beginning or Ending?

The egg hatched hours later. The chick blinked up at them with big blue eyes in an endearing innocent way.

"Look, he has Shelley's eyes." Skipper pointed out.

"What'll we call him?" Kowalski asked, gingerly patting the baby penguin's fuzzy grey head. He'd had about as much experience with chicks as Rico had.

"Private." Skipper said.

"Huh?" Rico said. Kowalski looked doubtful.

"We don't know what Shelley or his father would have named him. So we'll call him what part of the team he is for now and when he's older, he can pick a name of his own."

"Yeah, OK."

Rico seemed fine with it. He didn't speak much anymore. He hated the fact that he couldn't say anything recognisable. He'd never been much of a talker, but now he was completely silent, unless ordered to speak or something.

But he would be OK. They all would, for Shelley lived on in the eyes of her son.

**SkipperPrivate, Skipper917, Kittypig, Gamergirl247, K The Epic Penguin, appleduck, Kowalski1202, ice wolf, XxPenguinSoldierxX, Dinosaur-Fun, Skoolgrl09, Lovepaw and Silverpaw, puppy-anime-luvr, Godspilla and of course, my first reviewer, Layra.**

**What can I say? I love you guys, you've all reviewed my story, but it's more than that. You've all said such nice things about it. I'll miss the reviews. I'm honoured to have gained the attention of such cool people, especially as some of you are such excellent authors yourselves. I owe you guys, that's for sure! **

**Good God,what a tearjerker this is. OK, I've got a rough idea of the next PoM fanfic Im doing. All Im gonna tell you about it is, it's gonna be cuter, funnier and many chapters longer. And that, my friends, is a promise.**

**My brothers and sisters, I can't wait to meet you again!**


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